GETTING SOME ANSWERS TONIGHT ABOUT TREES THAT KEEP FALLING ON ONE PARTICULAR ROAD IN ST. PATRICK JOHN'S COUNTY PUTTING DRIVERS AT RISK. SINCE FEBRUARY WE HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR REMOVING DEAD TREES LEANING TOWARD THE SECTION OF COUNTY ROAD 214 WEST OF HOLMES BOULEVARD AND JUST WEST OF THE I-95 OVERPASS. WE STARTED DIGGING FOR ANSWERS WHEN A VIEWER SENT US THIS PICTURE OF A TREE THAT FELL IN JANUARY. IT CAME DOWN IN THE SAME SPOT WHERE ANOTHER LARGE TREE FELL FOUR YEARS AGO. BACK THEN THREE PEOPLE DIED WHEN THE CAR THEY WERE IN HIT THE TREE DURING A BAD RAINSTORM. SINCE THEN, THE MOTHER OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS CALLS THIS ROAD DEVIL'S HIGHWAY. CHANNEL 4 INVESTIGATOR JENNIFER WAUGH IS HERE TONIGHT TO TELL US WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE OUR FEBRUARY STORY AIRED. OUR STORY BACK IN FEBRUARY, THE COMPANY THAT OWNS THE LAND WHERE THOSE TREES FELL TOLD ME THAT IT WOULD CUT DOWN DOZENS OF TREES THAT IT HAD IDENTIFIED AS DEAD OR IN JEOPARDY OF FALLING. THE PROBLEM IS, IT'S WAITED THREE WEEKS TO DO IT AND THREE MORE TREES FELL ON THAT ROAD OVER THE WEEKEND. IT IS SALT ON THE WOUND FOR THE MOTHER OF THE TEENAGER WHO DIED WHEN THEY ARE DAUGHTER AND TWO FRIENDS WERE KILLED IN 2009S. I THINK THEY NEED TO GET ON THE BALL AND GET THESE TREES TAKEN DOWN. KATHERINE JEFFERS IS ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED TO SEE THESE NEW IMAGES OF NEAR MISSES. THIS CAR HIT A TREE THAT FELL ACROSS COUNTY ROAD 214 WEST OF I-95 EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. IT WAS BEFORE SUN UP, THE ROAD IS VERY DARK. THANKFULLY THE DRIVER WAS NOT HURT. THEN JUST TWELVE HOURS LATER DURING A RELENTLESS RAINSTORM, TWO MORE TREES FELL VERY CLOSE TO THE FIRST ONE. THIS PICTURE SHOWS FIREFIGHTERS WORKING TO CLEAR THE ROAD. TREES THAT FELL NOT FAR FROM A MEMORIAL MARKING WHERE JEFER'S DAUGHTER DIED FOUR YEARS AGO. THEY WILL KEEP FALLING AND EVENTUALLY SOMEONE ELSE IS GOING TO GET KILLED. JEFERS STRONGER NOW THAN THREE MONTHS AGO, HER HEART BROKEN OVER THE LOSS OF HER DAUGHTER. SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE LOVED ME AND THAT SHE WAS ON HER WAY HOME. I NEVER SEEN HER AGAIN. 19-YEAR-OLD KAYLA HAD NO IDEA THIS TREE HAD FALLEN BLOCKING COUNTY ROAD 214 DURING A BAD STORM. KAYLA, HER BOYFRIEND, AND HER BEST FRIEND ALL DIED. RIGHT AFTER WE AIRED OUR STORY IN FEBRUARY, A VIEWER SENT US THIS PICTURE OF HIS DAMAGED CAR. HE SAYS HE WAS DRIVING ALONG THAT SAME STRETCH OF ROAD TWO YEARS BEFORE KAYLA'S DEATH WHEN A TREE FELL ON HIS SUV FROM THE SAME PROPERTY. THESE PICTURES SHOW HOW CLOSE HE CAME TO SERIOUS INJURY. I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING THAT HERE LAST TIME IN. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH SAINT JOHN'S COMMISSIONER RON SANCHEZ FOR MONTHS TO TRACK DOWN THE OWNER. PROBABLY 20 PHONE CALLS TO GET THROUGH TO SOMEBODY THAT COULD TALK TO ME FROM THE COMPANY. WE CALLED, TOO, PRESSURING THE COMPANY ROCK TEN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE DEAD AND LEANING TREES. IT SAYS ITS HANDS WERE TIED. SPOKESPERSON SENDING US THIS EMAIL LAST MONTH, READING THE LAND IS UNDER A CONSERVATION EASEMENT WITH THE SAINT JOHN'S WATER DISTRICT. THE DISTRICT MUST GIVE LEGAL PERMISSION FOR ANY TREES TO BE REMOVED. THE COMPANY TOLD US THAT IT HAD IDENTIFIED ABOUT 100 TREES THAT NEEDED TO COME DOWN AND WAS JUST WAITING ON THE PERMIT TO DO IT. WE WENT TO SEE FOR OURSELVES. COMMISSIONER SANCHEZ MET US AND WE DID FIND SEVERAL TREES WITH THESE PINK SURVEY RIBBONS. THEY HAVE IT MARKED. SO EVIDENTLY THEY ARE MARKING THE ONES THEY WANT TAKEN DOWN. THEN THREE WEEKS AGO WE RECEIVED A COPY OF THIS LETTER SENT TO THE COMPANY. WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ACKNOWLEDGING SEVERAL TREES HAD POTENTIAL TO FALL IN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY ALONG COUNTY ROAD 214. AND GAVE ROCK TEN PERMISSION TO CUT THEM DOWN. BUT THAT STILL HASN'T HAPPENED. LOOK CLOSELY NOW. TWO OF THE TREES THAT FELL OVER THE WEEKEND HAD BEEN MARKED FOR REMOVAL. A SAFETY HAZARD. IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS SINCE I LOST MY DAUGHTER. IT'S TAKEN THIS LONG FOR THEM TO DO SOMETHING. NOW, ROCK TEN SAYS IT WAITED BECAUSE IT WANTED THE GROUND TO BE DRYER. LAST NIGHT I E-MAILED THE PICTURES OF THESE NEW TREES THAT FELL TO THE COMPANY AND NOW IT IS TAKING ACTION. I RECEIVED, IN FACT, THIS EMAIL LATE THIS AFTERNOON, ROCK TEN NOW SAYS IT WILL REMOVE THE TREES WITHIN 7 TO 10 DAYS FROM TODAY. E-MAIL READS IN PART, NORMALLY SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY PRACTICES MANDATE THAT THE TREE REMOVAL OCCUR WHEN GROUND CONDITIONS ARE DRYER. HOWEVER, WE WILL BEGIN THE TREE FELLING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE TREES WILL BE FELLED AND PUSHED TO A SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE ROAD UNTIL SUCH TIME THE GROUND CONDITIONS ALLOW FOR THEIR REMOVAL. WE PLAN TO BE THERE WHEN IT

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -

Three more trees fell along a popular St. Johns County roadway during last week's storm, putting drivers in danger -- and they don't even know it.

Quick Clicks

Channel 4’s investigation of County Road 214, west of Holmes Boulevard, began last January when a viewer sent in a picture of a fallen tree (below). It had fallen in nearly the same spot as a large oak tree four years ago that killed three people when the car they were in hit the downed tree during a bad rain storm.

Our firs
t story in our investigation aired in February and because of it, the company that owns the land where those trees fell, told us it would cut down dozens of trees it had identified as dead or in jeopardy of falling on that section of CR 214. The problem is, the company waited three weeks to do it and three more trees fell on the road this past weekend.

“I think they need to get on the ball and get these trees taken down,” said Kathryn Jeffers, whose 19-year-old daughter Kayla Register was one of the three who died in that crash with the downed oak tree back in 2009.

Jeffers is angry and frustrated to see more trees falling, putting drivers in danger.

Early Friday morning, a car hit a tree that fell across CR 214, just west of I-95. Thankfully, the driver was not hurt.

Then, 12 hours later, during Saturday's relentless rain, two more trees fell very close to the first one. These trees fell not far from a road memorial that marks where Kayla died four years ago.

Right after Channel 4’s investigation aired in February, a viewer sent us pictures of what happened to his car. He says he was driving on the same stretch of road two years before Kayla’s death, when a tree fell on his SUV. He was not seriously hurt, but told us it had to be Divine Intervention.

We’ve been working with St. Johns County Commissioner Ron Sanchez for months to track down the owner of the land.

Channel 4 pressured the company, RockTenn, to do something about the dead and leaning trees. It owns the large parcel of land on the north side of CR 214. At the time of Kayla Register's death the land was owned by Jefferson- Smurfitt. It has since been bought by RockTenn.

A spokesperson with RockTenn sent us an email in April saying their hands were tied. Robin Keegan said safety is RockTenn's top priority, but it could not remove the trees without a permit.

The email she sent reads, in part, the land is, “…Under a conservation easement with the St. Johns River Water Management District. The District must give legal permission for any trees to be removed.”

The company says after our February story it inspected the land and identified about 100 trees that needed to come down. It was just waiting for the permit to do it.

Channel 4 went to see for ourselves. Commissioner Sanchez met us and we did find several trees with pink survey ribbons.

We called the St. Johns Water Managment District. It confirmed a permit was needed and then forwarded us a letter it had just sent to RockTenn giving the company permission to move forward with the tree cutting. In that letter the Water Management District acknowledges several trees had the potential to fall into the right-of-way of CR 214.

That letter was received three weeks ago. When we asked why the company didn't act immediately, Keegan told us the tree crew needs to wait until the ground is drier. The parcel of land is considered wetlands.

Two of the trees that fell over the weekend, had pink ribbons wrapped around their base, indicating they had been marked for removal because they were in danger of coming down.

“I understand that it's wetlands, but it's never going to dry up. Ya know they need to get out there and take them down. It’s been four years since I lost my daughter and it’s taken them this long to do something,” said Jeffers.

We sent pictures of the trees that fellover the weekend to RockTenn asking what it's going to do now. The company now says it has moved up its schedule to remove some 100 trees in danger of falling. This is the email company spokeswoman, Robin Keegan, sent to Jennifer the afternoon before her story was to air.

"RockTenn supports the safety of the community and is planning to remove the identified trees in the area near county Road 214 in the next week to 10 days. RockTenn has been working with the St. Johns River Water Management District, who holds the conservation easement on the property to gain permission to remove the identified trees. After reviewing the conservation easement and the selected trees they have granted permission to remove the trees. Normally, sustainable forestry practices mandate that the tree removal occur when the ground conditions on the tract are drier. However, we will begin the tree felling as soon as possible. The trees will be felled and will be pushed to a safe distance from the road until such time that ground conditions allow for their removal. Then the site will be restored as appropriate."

Channel 4 will continue to follow this story and make sure the company keeps its word. Stay tuned for updates to this story.

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